Hundredth

Free

Written by: MBC on 02/08/2015 01:14:54

Since its formation in 2008 American melodic hardcore band Hundredth has been extremely prolific in putting out material. Their first two full length albums “When Will We Surrender” from 2010 and “Let Go” from 2011 were followed up with the release of the “Revolt”/”Resist” EPs in 2013 and 2014. That leads us to this year and the release of Hundredth’s third full length album entitled “Free” which is out now. It is another stunningly good album from the band that has become one of the clear-cut leaders of American melodic hardcore alongside The Ghost Inside. On this record, Hundredth stay true to their style from previous records while expanding their arsenal into new areas, which has resulted in one of the strongest releases yet from the band.

Hundredth are very skilled song writers with a tremendous understanding of how to create energetic and heavy music that perfectly balances aggression and melody and is catchy without ever losing its hard edge. As always, a major factor in the band’s appeal is the dominant scream of front man Chadwick Johnson which is raw and unrelenting yet clear and comprehensible. The band has abandoned the cleanly sung choruses from previous releases and is now solely relying on Johnson’s screaming to convey its message, which has definitely been the right move. His pitch has moved upwards a little bit and he sounds better than ever, as he has expanded his vocal style to include shouty semi-cleans ala John Henry from Darkest Hour. This is an amazing addition that fits absolutely perfect with the band’s music.

As usual, this album is brimming with strong, emotional lyrics that are misanthropic and self-loathing in nature, but always with a sense of catharsis behind them. Johnson seems angrier than ever and one cannot help but be affected by his performance. Check out for instance the astonishing chorus for “Beggar” where he screams “you confused my silence, my solitude for weakness, but I could see right through, you were starving for acceptance inside, and when you cracked it all seeped through”. Another highlight is the last minute and a half of album closer “Burdens” where he desperately and repeatedly screams “he is the needle, I am the damage done” as the tempo slows down dramatically. The pain and anger that this man exudes is uncanny, and his performance on the album is absolutely incredible.

There are many more highlights on “Free” that I will leave up to the readers to experience for themselves, but I will just stress that this is an awesome album from Hundredth that is sure to please fans of the band as well as newcomers. If you love high quality melodic hardcore, you will love this.

Download: Unravel, Inside Out, Break Free, Beggar, Reach, Burdens
For the fans of: The Ghost Inside, Counterparts, Darkest Hour, Comeback Kid, It Prevails
Listen: Facebook

Release date 16.06.2015
Hopeless Records

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